Starting sg 1.02, should be 1.05-1.055

I'm a relatively competent kit wine maker making my first batch of beer. I bought a Brewer's Best Kit, American Micro Style Pale Ale.

I started it last night but the starting SG is way too low, 1.02. I triple checked it because I was so surprised. I had already pitched the yeast, but it was only a minute or two before I remembered to check the SG.


I can think of several possible reasons:

I didn't get enough of the extract out of the cans when starting the wort. I did not pre-warm the cans of Malt Extract, therefore it was a bit hard to get the stuff out. But what I did was pour some hot wort back into the cans and use that to loosen it up, I scraped it out real good with the mixing spoon so I don't think that's it.

I did not stir after topping up with water to the 5 gallon mark. But I used a wine thief which got some of the wort from the bottom.

When I poured the chilled wort into the primary, I left too much behind. I think this is probably it. You aren't supposed to pour out the sediment (trub) I was thinking of not getting too much sediment in the beer rather than trying to get all the good stuff.

This morning I'm not seeing any bubbling through the airlock but the surface is covered with a cap, looks like the yeast is starting up.

So I'm finally getting to my question: Should I add some sugar or anything else (more extract?) to this before the fermentation goes very far?

Appreciate any thoughts.

I would leave it be. I suspect that the biggest culprit is not stirring enough. I'm not sure how much wort you left behind in the pot but the wort really needs to be stirred throughly after the top off water is added. I'm guessing that your OG might be a tad low but not enough to cause any concern.

On your next batch get a funnel and some sort of screen to filter out the hops as you pour into the fermenter. It aerates the wort and removes most of the hops and some of the trub. It won't hurt your beer if you get some of the hops into the fermenter anyway.

And oh by the way, Welcome to HBT.
Let us know how your beer turns out.

Thanks for the quick response. I should have known to stir it after topping it off., but since it wasn't in the directions I skipped it. I've been trained by the wine makers forum that newbies should follow the directions EXACTLY until you get your technique right.

While I was pouring out of the brew pot I was thinking, "Sure wish I had a screen" so I'll make sure to use one for next time.

I took the risk of contamination and just now sanitized everything and gave it a stir. The SG was 1.034. There were some bubbles rising in the column. So obviously my measurement last night was faulty and I'm not as far off as I feared.

Thanks again for the quick response.